586 THE MONTHLY BULLETIN. 



high as the snow field of Mount Rainier, along the Sierras at an elevation 

 of 10,000 feet, at which altitude a few specimens had been taken, a 

 minute inspection of the work upon Saxifraga peltata was made, which 

 showed conclusively that it was done by Adoxus ohscurus, which at 

 times does considerable damage to vineyards throughout the State. 



A careful search of the infested area gave no sign of adults, which 

 was probably due to the lateness of the season. The damage to the 

 foliage was complete, the spaces between the veins of the leaf having 

 the appearance of lace work and the narrow slits, so characteristic of 

 this species on grape, were as thick as they could possibly be, all of 

 which strengthened the belief that Adoxus ohscurus had adapted itself 

 to a new host plant. Diligent search in this and adjoining areas finally 

 revealed a few adults, which I at once collected together with specimens 

 of leaves showing damage and brought the same to the Insectary, where 

 they were identified as Adoxus ohscurus. Later, our identification was 

 verified by Charles Fuchs, of the California Academy of Sciences. 



The specimens were collected in Canyon Creek, which is a tributary 

 of the north fork of the American River, Placer County, at an elevation 

 of 3,700 feet, during the latter part of October, 1912. 



DR. SYLVESTRI'S WEST AFRICAN MISSION. 



By Harry S. Smith, Superintendent State Insectary, Sacramento, CaL 



Anything that.aft'ects the status of the fruit fly in Hawaii is of vital 

 importance to the fruit growers of California. They will then be 

 interested to know something of the results of Dr. Silvestri's recent 

 trip to the west coast of Africa for the purpose of obtaining, if possible, 

 parasites to use against this pest. 



On his way to Italy Dr. Silvestri spent a day at the State Insectary 

 a couple of weeks ago. He reports a most interesting and apparently 

 successful year's work. Leaving his home near Naples the first of July 

 a year ago he proceeded directly to the west coast of Africa. About six 

 months were spent in the search for the fruit fly and its parasites in 

 that region, the remainder of the time being occupied in traveling from 

 place to place, transportation being very poor in that part of the world. 



Although a great many species of the fruit fly family were en- 

 countered, the Mediterranean fruit fly, Ceratitis capitata, was very 

 scarce. However, the habits of these other flies are so similar to that 

 of the particular one which was the object of his search, that it is hoped 

 and believed the parasites attacking these will also attack C. capitata. 

 Considerable time was spent in Nigeria and Dr. Silvestri makes the 

 statement that here is the place of all places where the search should 

 be carried on. 



Large numbers of various species of fruit flies were collected and 

 parasites reared out and brought to the Hawaiian Islands alive. The 

 greatest difiiculty was experienced in keeping the material in a living 

 state, due to the fact that four months were required to make the 

 journey from West Africa to Honolulu. Dr. Silvestri found that the 

 method so successfully used in the gypsy moth parasite laboratory, that 

 of keeping the adult parasites in glass tubes, feeding them with droplets 



